Fcc catalyst, its preparation and use

Title: Fcc catalyst, its preparation and use.Abstract: Process for the preparation of a catalyst comprising the steps of (a) preparing a slurry comprising clay, zeolite, a sodium-free silica source, quasi-crystalline boehmite, and micro-crystalline boehmite, provided that the slurry does not comprise peptised quasi-crystalline boehmite, (b) adding a monovalent acid to the slurry, (c) adjusting the pH of the slurry to a value above 3, and (d) shaping the slurry to form particles. This process results in attrition resistant catalysts with a good accessibility. ...

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a catalyst, catalysts obtainable by this process, and their use in, e.g., fluid catalytic cracking (FCC).

A common challenge in the design and production of heterogeneous catalysts is to find a good compromise between the effectiveness and/or accessibility of the active sites and the effectiveness of the immobilising matrix in giving the catalyst particles sufficient physical strength, i.e. attrition resistance.

The preparation of attrition resistant catalysts is disclosed in several prior art documents.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,187 discloses a process for the preparation of an attrition resistant catalyst by spray-drying an aqueous slurry prepared by mixing (I) a faujasite zeolite with a sodium content of less than 5 wt % with (ii) kaolin, (iii) peptised pseudoboehmite, and (iv) ammonium polysilicate.

The attrition resistant catalysts according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,085 are prepared by spray-drying a slurry prepared by mixing two types of acidified pseudoboehmite, zeolite, alumina, clay, and either ammonium polysilicate or silica sol.

GB 1 315 553 discloses the preparation of an attrition resistant hydrocarbon conversion catalyst comprising a zeolite, a clay, and an alumina binder. The catalyst is prepared by first dry mixing the zeolite and the clay, followed by adding an alumina sol. The resulting mixture is then mixed to a plastic consistency, which requires about 20 minutes of mixing time. In order to form shaped particles, the plastic consistency is either pelletised or extruded, or it is mixed with water and subsequently spray-dried.

The alumina sol disclosed in this British patent specification comprises aluminium hydroxide and aluminium trichloride in a molar ratio of 4.5 to 7.0 (also called aluminium chlorohydrol).

U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,023 relates to a similar preparation procedure, which is followed by calcination of the spray-dried particles. During calcination, the aluminium chlorohydrol component is converted into an alumina binder.

WO 96/09890 discloses a process for the preparation of attrition resistant fluid catalytic cracking catalysts. This process involves the mixing of an aluminium sulphate/silica sol, a clay slurry, a zeolite slurry, and an alumina slurry, followed by spray-drying. During this process, an acid- or alkaline-stable surfactant is added to the silica sol, the clay slurry, the zeolite slurry, the alumina slurry and/or the spray-drying slurry.

CN 1247885 also relates to the preparation of a spray-dried cracking catalyst. This preparation uses a slurry comprising an aluminous sol, pseudoboehmite, a molecular sieve, clay, and an inorganic acid. In this process the aluminous sol is added to the slurry before the clay and the inorganic acid are added, and the molecular sieve slurry is added after the inorganic acid has been added. According to one embodiment, pseudoboehmite and aluminium sol are first mixed, followed by addition of the inorganic acid. After acidification, the molecular sieve is added, followed by kaolin.

WO 02/098563 discloses a process for the preparation of an FCC catalyst having both a high attrition resistance and a high accessibility. The catalyst is prepared by slurrying zeolite, clay, and boehmite, feeding the slurry to a shaping apparatus, and shaping the mixture to form particles, characterised in that just before the shaping step the mixture is destabilised. This destabilisation is achieved by, e.g., temperature increase, pH increase, pH decrease, or addition of gel-inducing agents such as salts, phosphates, sulphates, and (partially) gelled silica. Before destabilisation, any peptisable compounds present in the slurry must have been well peptised.

Although the catalyst according to the latter document has a relatively high attrition resistance and accessibility, it has now been found that the accessibility/attrition resistance ratio can be further improved.

This further improvement is achieved by the process according to the invention, which process comprises the steps of:
a) preparing a slurry comprising clay, zeolite, a sodium-free silica source, quasi-crystalline boehmite, and micro-crystalline boehmite, provided that the slurry does not comprise peptised quasi-crystalline boehmite,
b) adding a monovalent acid to the slurry,
c) adjusting the pH of the slurry to a value above 3, and
d) shaping the slurry to form particles,

In contrast to conventional processes where quasi-crystalline boehmites (e.g. pseudoboehmites) always have been peptised before addition to the zeolite-containing slurry, the process according to the invention adds non-peptised quasi-crystalline boehmite (QCB). Acid is only added after QCB addition, i.e. to a slurry that also comprises zeolite and clay.

Further, the process according to the present invention leads to the preparation of catalysts comprising both micro- and quasi-crystalline boehmites with an attrition resistance that is sufficient for use in FCC.

Micro-crystalline boehmite (MCB) is a suitable metal passivator, in particular for Ni contaminants. However, up to now the preparation of MCB-containing FCC catalyst particles has been unsuccessful, because MCB is difficult to bind with conventional FCC-type binders, leading to catalyst particles with unacceptable attrition. With the process according to the present invention, MCB-containing catalysts with satisfactory attrition resistance are obtained.

Boehmite

The term “boehmite” is used in the industry to describe alumina hydrates which exhibit X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns close to that of aluminium oxide-hydroxide [AlO(OH)]. Further, the term boehmite is generally used to describe a wide range of alumina hydrates which contain different amounts of water of hydration, have different surface areas, pore volumes, specific densities, and exhibit different thermal characteristics upon thermal treatment. Yet their XRD patterns, although they exhibit the characteristic boehmite [AlO(OH)] peaks, usually vary in their widths and can also shift in their location. The sharpness of the XRD peaks and their location has been used to indicate the degree of crystallinity, crystal size, and amount of imperfections.

Broadly, there are two categories of boehmite aluminas: quasi-crystalline boehmites (QCBs) and micro-crystalline boehmites (MCBs).

In the state of the art, quasi-crystalline boehmites are also referred to as pseudoboehmites and gelatinous boehmites. Usually, these QCBs have higher surface areas, larger pores and pore volumes, and lower specific densities than MCBs. They disperse easily in water or acids, have smaller crystal sizes than MCBs, and contain a larger number of water molecules of hydration. The extent of hydration of QCB can have a wide range of values, for example from about 1.4 up to about 2 moles of water per mole of Al, intercalated usually orderly or otherwise between the octahedral layers.

DTG (differential thermographimetry) indicates that the major amount of water is released from QCBs at a much lower temperature than from MCBs.

The XRD Patterns of QCBs show quite broad peaks and their half-widths (i.e. the widths of the peaks at half-maximum intensity) are indicative of the crystal sizes as well as degree of crystal perfection.

Some typical commercially available QCBs are Pural®, Catapal®, and Versal® products.

Microcrystalline boehmites are distinguished from the QCBs by their high degree of crystallinity, relatively large crystal size, very low surface areas, and high densities. Contrary to QCBs, MCBs show XRD patterns with higher peak intensities and very narrow half-widths. This is due to their relatively small number of intercalated water molecules, large crystal sizes, the higher degree of crystallization of the bulk material, and the smaller amount of crystal imperfections. Typically, the number of water molecules intercalated can vary in the range from about 1 up to about 1.4 per mole of Al.

A typical commercially available MCB is Condea\'s P-200®.

MCBs and QCBs are characterised by powder X-ray reflections. The ICDD contains entries for boehmite and confirms that reflections corresponding to the (020), (021), and (041) planes would be present. For copper radiation, such reflections would appear at 14, 28, and 38 degrees 2-theta. The exact position of the reflections depends on the extent of crystallinity and the amount of water intercalated: as the amount of intercalated water increases, the (020) reflection moves to lower values, corresponding to greater d-spacings. Nevertheless, lines close to the above positions would be indicative of the presence of one or more types of boehmite phases.

For the purpose of this specification we define quasi-crystalline boehmites as having a (020) reflection with a full width at half height (FWHH) of 1.5° or greater than 1.5° 2θ. Boehmites having a (020) reflection with a FWHH of smaller than 1.5° 2θ are considered micro-crystalline boehmites.

Overall, the basic, characteristic differences between QCBs and MCBs involve variations in the following: 3-dimensional lattice order, sizes of the crystallites, amount of water intercalated between the octahedral layers, and degree of crystal imperfections.

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20100617|20100152024|fcc catalyst, its preparation and use|Process for the preparation of a catalyst comprising the steps of (a) preparing a slurry comprising clay, zeolite, a sodium-free silica source, quasi-crystalline boehmite, and micro-crystalline boehmite, provided that the slurry does not comprise peptised quasi-crystalline boehmite, (b) adding a monovalent acid to the slurry, (c) adjusting the pH of |